Siouxsie Sue wrote:
These helium comments are awfully silly...

When A&E ran THE AVENGERS series here in the states, the programs were time-compressed -- that is, speeded up to allow for more commercials with less cut footage. The result, of course, was that the other Patrick, Macnee, really DID sound like he was sucking helium.

And I'm sure this wasn't the only program to receive that treatment. It's possible that people somehow associate these amphetamine monstrosities, either through boots, dvd-rs or whatever, with the apocryphal PAL speedup.